Marcus Aurelius, recognizable by his curly hair and protruding eyes, is shown here wearing a cuirass. Beneath the mass of hair, rendered in less detail than in most portraits of this type, the lowered face with its distant gaze has a grave and meditative air. The cuirass, partly hidden by a cloak fastened over the right shoulder, is decorated with a gorgoneion or Gorgon mask in the centre and a grotesque eel-legged figure on the right shoulder-piece.
This colossal head, mounted on a modern bust, represents Marcus Aurelius, who reigned from AD 161 to 180. The large, protruding eyes and skillfully rendered mass of hair and beard are familiar features of portraits of this philosopher emperor.
